Airbnb survey feedback

[Robin4]

Today (along with no doubt a lot of others) I was invited to take part an Airbnb survey, so, having a few minutes to spare I did it

At the end of my survey I was asked for my comments in my own words regarding my Airbnb hosting.

I thought I would share my comments with the community.....

I have said my piece....I hope someone will take notice of it!

Cheers.....Rob

[Cathie19]

Hi @Robin4. Must be a slow day all round, as I also completed the survey!  I chose to not answer the income questions in the middle and finalised the survey, filling in the final blank as well.

My personal response for feedback concentrated solely on safety, and the responsibility of Airbnb to require facial profile images for both hosts and guests alike. That this should be a safety requirement, quite separate from the Government ID verification. 

If enough hosts concentrate on this concern, they surely can’t ignore the Safety within the community requires facial images for everyone.masses.

🙂

Cathie

[Ben551]

Well said @Robin4  and very professional, as always 🙂

I got the survey today too and said a few things of my own, although from the perspective of someone who is new at the biz.

My feedback (I assume that's what we're sharing here?) was along the lines of all the extra tools that AirBnb could be providing and don't.  For example, decent pricing tools, automated messaging, and search engine analysis like AirDna and RankBreeze.  All these tools I pay for separately are using AirBnb's API feed, which means they could be offering the services themselves and give a fuller service.  I worked out I'm paying NZD $60 per month for all the third-party tools (just 3 tools: superhosttools, wheelhouse, rankbreeze).  I expect I won't need all of them forever, but it's been very helpful to teach me the ropes in the beginning... plus with the price increase one helped me make, I've already won that $60 back in a single booking! 

So yeah, I see some untapped potential for the platform itself and would love to see it expand.

[Robin4]

@Ben551 I thought about including this link to a couple of posts I did today to illustrate what is happening from a hosts perspective, how this lack of support is actually physically hurting Airbnb, but then I thought, nah, don't stir the pot too much, lets see if any reaction comes from that!

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/No-to-the-new-no-guest-photo-policy/td-p/920900

As I have said before, it's not the fact they are hiding the guests photo, I don't take any notice of the photo anyway....it's the fact that they consider removing access to who is booking in a visual sense is a positive way to improve the platform! It is as Rebecca states in that other thread, Airbnb's way of enacting the 'Ostrich's head in the sand' scenario....what we can't see won't hurt us!

Bloody lot of 'claptrap' if you ask me and whoever came up with this one seriously needs to be looking for another job!

In my working life Ben, I was a mechanical services contractor! Ade's illness saw me retire early at 56 but the 12 years prior to that saw me take my company from 3 employees to 27. If one of those employees had come to me and said....."Got a good idea boss, lets do the proposal, show them what they are going to get, all the facts and figures, but don't show them the price until they accept the proposal.....I would have fired he/she on the spot!

Cheers.....Rob

[Ben551]

@Robin4 Nicely said again. I expect they will receive a lot of comments like yours through the survey, so I can’t imagine it won’t get another look. Am I right in that the community have succeeded in other changes being revisited before? I think I read something somewhere...

Anyway, what did you think of my comments? I’m a tech savvy guy so I expect not everyone will be interested in extra functionality, but man I sure am. There are so many places doing it now too, especially for automated messaging.

I went with Superhosttools instead of Smartbnb because it’s a third of the price, and filled my basic needs for automated messaging... but yeah I can’t imagine ever living without it! We get enquiries at 2am when my phone is on silent! To keep up the “responds within an hour” tag I’d have to wake up at all hours! So a simple automated message saying “hey, thanks, I’ve got your message and will get right back to you” is a life saver.  It keeps my response rate at 100% and I get to sleep easy and deal with it in the morning.

Hell Ben-bot (as I call it) even sends checkin info at the right time, checks up on my current guests, offers towels, extra milk, dinner suggestions.... he might be a nicer bloke than I am lol.

So yeah, I reckon Airbnb are missing a trick here. To me this stuff feels like the basics of life, saves hundreds of hours, makes my guests happy.... so isn’t something I should be buying as an add on.

[Sandra126]

Yes, @Ben551, the CC has changed things. On occasion, they have used advice given by the thousands of hosts who consult for free here. Not often, but it has happened to some degree or other. There used to be a thing called Host Voice, gone now (as far as I know). We could use it specifically to voice ideas, as opposed to the general forum where we tend to get help or vent.

[Robin4]

@Ben551

Yeah I did read your comments and I do appreciate what you have to say, and it is guys like you who will drive change because you don't have your head in the past like I do. You have a desire for, and chase, new technology, and this of course is where the future lies!

Me, I am more interested in perfecting principals rather than jumping on new ones. I am 74 now Ben, I met and shook hands with the Beatles when they came in '64....well three quarters of them, we had a stand in drummer called Jimmy Nicol, Ringo Starr never made it to Adelaide. This age give me a lot to look back on, but not a huge amount to look forward to, so, I don't have that desire for new technology that you have. We have a saying here....'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'...geeez it took me a year to download the phone app, and wow did that make it easier, not having to worry every time I left home that I would lose a booking!

But I surround myself with just enough technology to comfortably cope with what I do and maybe I am missing out on a lot of shortcuts Ben, and, I am always open to learning something, but I feel comfortable with where I am.

There is a British loudspeaker firm called Tannoy. For 40 years they never brought out a new speaker....each year they just kept tinkering with and perfecting the one they had....and I guess that's a bit like me!

Cheers.....Rob

[Ben551]

@Robin4  My father uses that saying from time to time... then looks thoughtfully as he realises it's entirely untrue.  You certainly can learn new tricks my friend; you've tought yourself gardening and reached some kind of level with it that others can only dream to aspire... you've taught yourself this AirBnb business, that half baked twits like me are still only grappling with... and now you're about to host a Chinese wedding in your back garden.

Rob, you're learning more new things now than most people do in a year, so carry on and get on with it 🙂

Stick to learning new things that bring you joy; the rest don't matter.

[Susan1028]

thank you @Ben0 and everyone here.

i live in the US and haven’t received thus survey.  has anyone else in the US gotten one?

[Christine615]

Nope @Susan1028  I didn't get one and I'm in the US. Just more ways for Airbnb to stumble and commit unforced errors.

[Sandra126]

I started but pulled out early on, after the question of why I had the place for hosting: Options were plenty: I got the house in order to do Airbnb

I have spare room

Etc. There was even an Other, which I ticked but was surprised not to be given the option to say what other.

I didn't get a house to do Airbnb, because I got the house to do ACCOMMODATION. There has always been other places before Airbnb, and a great many of us has done it longer than Airbnb. I would have liked to see the answer ''I got the house to do accommodation''. So I felt manipulated and stopped.

[Robin4]

@Sandra126

Yeah, I could understand that Sandra but, the survey was not aimed at how and why you host, it was aimed at why you Airbnb host specifically, so that is why they offered the options they did. I was quite happy to answer all their questions. But I was determined I wanted to have my say about removing our access to guests profile photos before they book. And you will notice it has gone way beyond that. More and more profile photos are now being replaced with a letter generic field only regardless of whether the guest has booked or not. My feeling is, it is just a matter of time before there will be no such thing as an identifyable  'profile photo' on Airbnb.

I did have a chuckle at the way they worded the opening line of that email though!

"As a host on Airbnb, welcoming travellers is not simply opening up your home but sharing your community also. That’s why we’re partnering with cities around the world to make hosting easier,

more accepted and more rewarding for you".

Geeez, their script writing department need to keep their substance abuse under control!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Sandra126]

but @Robin4, I don't Airbnb host specifically. I just have accommodation. I feel they can then say ''x % got a place to do Airbnb'' when they correct answer would be x % got the house to do ACCOMMODATION.

They just happened to be the listing site that picked up the business.

[Susan1028]

😆

it’s the kool aid...

[Pete28]

Too many questions, really what % of income for blah blah. It's all just another attempt to get propaganda for Airbnb keeping people in their homes etc. Airbnb is well aware I assume of their problems at this point - they choose to do nothing about them 😞